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About Open Secrets

In the tradition of Garrison Keillor, Open Secrets captures the friendships, rivalries, and rumors of small-town life by chronicling the lives of the citizens of a small Midwestern community through the eyes of a young minister.

Fresh out of divinity school and bursting with enthusiasm, Richard Lischer found himself assigned to a small conservative church in an economically depressed town in southern Illinois. It’s an awkward marriage at best–a young man with a Ph.D. in theology, full of ideas and ambitions, determined to improve his parish and bring it into the twenty-first century, and a community that is “as tightly sealed as a jar of home-canned pickles.” In Open Secrets, Lischer tells not only his own story but also the story of New Cana and its inhabitants. With charm, openness, and humor, Lischer brings to life the clash of cultures and personalities that marks his pastoral tenure, including his own doubts, as well as those of his parishioners, that a twenty-eight-year-old suburban-raised liberal can deal with the troubled marriages, alcoholism, teen sex, inadequate farm subsidies, and other concerns of the conservative, tightly knit community. But the inhabitants of New Cana–lovable, deeply flawed, imperfect people who stick together–open their arms to him in their own way, and the result is a colorful, poignant comedy of small-town life and all it has to offer.

About Open Secrets

Open Secrets is Richard Lischer’s story of his early career as a Lutheran minister. Fresh out of divinity school and full of enthusiasm, Lischer found himself assigned to a small conservative church in an economically depressed town in southern Illinois. This was far from what this overly enthusiastic and optimistic young man expected. The town was bleak, poor, and clearly not a step on his path to a brilliant career.

It’s an awkward marriage at best, a young man with a Ph.D. in theology, full of ideas and ambitions, determined to improve his parish and bring them into the twenty-first century, and a community that is "as tightly sealed as a jar of home-canned pickles." In their own way, they welcome him and his family, even though they think he’s "got bigger fish to fry." Thus begins Richard Lischer’s first year as a pastor: bringing communion to the sick (but forgetting to bring the wafers); marrying two unlikely couples–a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend, and two people who can’t stop fighting.

Often he doesn’t understand his congregation, and sometimes they don’t understand him; for instance, why does his wife hire a baby-sitter and instead of leaving, put on her bathing suit, grab a stack of novels, and hide from the kids? Or why can’t Pastor Lischer see how important it is for a woman with little money to buy an elaborate coffin to bury her husband in?

There are also the moments of grace, when pastor and parishioner unite for a common goal: when he asks for prayers for his infant son, and can feel everyone in the congregation ministering to him; when old hurts are put aside to help a desperate young woman finish college and raise her baby; or when he helps save a woman from dying of a drug overdose.

In Open Secrets Lischer tells not only his own story but also the story of New Cana and all of its inhabitants–lovable, deeply flawed, imperfect people that stick together. With his sharp eye and keen wit, Lischer perfectly captures the comedy of small town life with all of its feuds, rumors, scandals, and friendships. In the end he learns to appreciate not only the life New Cana has to offer, but also the people who have accepted him, at last, as part of themselves.

From the Hardcover edition.

Praise

“[Lischer’s] portraits are masterfully drawn. Not only does he write beautifully, but he also tells the unvarnished truth about both tragedy and redemption in a Christian community.” –Publishers Weekly

“This is a beautiful book–beautifully conceived, beautifully executed, and rare in the beauty of its pastoral and theological sensibilities.” –Richard John Newhaus, First Things

About Richard Lischer

Richard Lischer has served as pastor of Lutheran congregations in Illinois and Virginia, and for the past twenty years has taught at the Duke University divinity school. His most recent book is The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr., and… More about Richard Lischer

About Richard Lischer

Richard Lischer has served as pastor of Lutheran congregations in Illinois and Virginia, and for the past twenty years has taught at the Duke University divinity school. His most recent book is The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr., and… More about Richard Lischer